When It Comes to Your Job Search, Do You Maximize or Satisfice?

On a job search, a big question that all candidates must determine for themselves is: when is enough, enough? Do you try to research every possible company in your industry to work for, and apply to every job for which you’re qualified? Or do you figure out what specific criteria you need to meet, and then stop looking as soon as you’ve found a job that matches those goals?

If you’re the type of person who wants to cover all of your bases, then you’re what Gretchin Rubin, author of The Happiness Project and The Four Tendencies, calls a “maximizer.” “Satisficers,” on the other hand, feel satisfied as soon as they’ve identified something that works for them, even if they haven’t thoroughly explored all of their options.

Does it matter whether you’re a maximizer or a satisficer when it comes to your job search? It might, if your happiness matters to you. Rubin points to Barry Schwartz’s book, The Paradox of Choice, to support the argument that the habits of satisficers tend to make them happier than maximizers. In other words, if you feel the need to check out every possible job option before settling on a choice, you may be making yourself less happy than other candidates who know how to “satisfice.”

To avoid these potential issues, consider substituting your maximizing tendencies for developing the ability to satisfice yourself in the job market:

Recognize that the grass is always greener.

It’s easy to see why satisficers might feel better about their choice than maximizers. If you think about it, there are always more possibilities to explore when it comes to work.

If you’ve convinced yourself that you can’t take a job until you’ve thoroughly vetted every conceivable option, you may end up passing on a great opportunity while you continue searching for what you imagine is the perfect one. It’s also easy to fall into the “keep looking” syndrome, imagining that whatever is coming next might be better than what’s already in front of you.

Too many choices means more dilemmas.

With every position that you explore, you expose yourself to new details that you must consider and weigh against other information you’ve found. You can easily become overwhelmed with pro/con comparisons, and once you’ve finally decided on a direction, could find yourself later regretting not taking something that you remember as meeting some of your criteria better than the job you took.

By deciding in advance what your criteria are for a job that will work for you, you avoid going down this rabbit hole of constant comparison.

Don’t drown out your intuition searching for “optimal.”

While it’s certainly always advisable to do your due diligence when making a major life decision that involves your employment, Schwartz’s research suggests that there can indeed be too much of a good thing. Understanding your options is important, but it may affect how you feel about your final decision if you prioritize making the “optimal” career choice over simply selecting a job that meets all of your predetermined criteria.

If you’ve found a job that fits with what you said you wanted, listen to your intuition. By falling into perfectionistic habits of needing to check out every job possible, you might make a decision that doesn’t match with what you’d already highlighted as most important to you.

Regardless of which personality type you feel most drawn toward in your job search, maximizer or satisficer, you can take steps toward making a choice that you’re more likely to feel good about. By being intentional about your job search decision-making strategy, it’s possible to be thrilled with your choice—even when you leave some stones unturned.